Need help looking for a job? Tired of hearing silence when you apply on-line? RightChanges Job Search Coach offers tips on how to find a job in this market and how to stand out from your competition. These tips apply whether you are unemployed, misemployed, new graduate, or re-entering the job market.

If you have given yourself time to process the loss of the job and are looking forward to the next opportunity, then you are ready for the next important step to landing that job. http://rightchangesjobsearchcoach.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-stay-positive-in-job-search.html

Step 2 is Aptitude: knowing what you offer a future employer and what makes you better than your competition.

Take the time to inventory (discover and document) your abilities, accomplishments, strengths, values, interests, education, personality, and technical skills. This information will be used to strengthen your resume and to add power to your interview answers. A side benefit is that it reminds YOU how valuable you are.

If and only if you have completed Steps 1, 2, and 3 are you ready to create or update your marketing materials. Updating your marketing materials and launching your search without completing the first three steps will sabotage your job search efforts. If you have been in a job search and it has not been going well, revisit the first three steps and then revise your marketing materials.

Complete List of Marketing Materials

The resume is not the only piece of a job seeker’s marketing material. In fact there are other pieces of marketing collateral that are just as important as the resume. It is important to have these and use them as they are intended. Let’s look at the entire list and then we will cover each one in detail.• Brand Statement• Elevator Pitch• Marketing Plan• Business Cards• Resume / CV• Cover Letter• References• Salary History• Accomplishment List• Social Network Sites especially Linked In

To read up on creating a brand statement and developing an elevator pitch, go to:

There are entire books dedicated to the topic of do’s and don’t’s for resume writing, more information than any one article could cover. This article covers the typical questions asked by and mistakes made by job seekers. Just as important as the suggestions, included is the logic behind these suggestions.

Header

The name / address section is the header and is sometimes referred to as the letterhead because it is the letterhead for your stationery. This same letterhead should be used at the top of your cover letter, your reference list, and all career correspondences to give you a professional look. Here are a few points to check about your letterhead.

1. Your name should be in a larger font than the rest of the header; you want the reader to see and remember your name.

2. Your entire letterhead should not be the smallest font on the page or squeezed up at the top making it look like an afterthought. Again, you want the reader to see and remember your name

3. You do not need to preface your e-mail address with the word “email:” The format will indicate that.

4. Simplify things for the hiring manger by listing only one phone number, the number at which you can be reached the most often, which is usually your cell phone number. Just as it was unnecessary to preface the e-mail address with the word “e-mail”, you do not need to preface the phone number with the word “phone” or “cell”.

5. Have a professional and individual e-mail address (versus an email address that contains the name of the family or couple). Using your college mascot name in the e-mail address indicates your school spirit but is not professional.

6. Do not embed the header in the MS Word Header; it should be part of the body of the document.

Above the Fold

The top third of the first page of the resume is the most important. The typical reader of a resume will spend only seconds looking at your resume before deciding what to do with it - read on or discard. You want to be sure your most important skills, abilities, and accomplishments are mentioned in this section. Therefore, the combination resume format is recommended over the old chronological format.

1. A career summary section is more powerful and unique than an objectives statement. The typical objective is so vague that anyone could write the same statement, whereas a career summary statement is uniquely you.

2. Significant Qualifications: List the items that sell you. Use of category headers will help the reader understand how this section is formatted.

3. Do not use blocks of text in this section. Points should be concise. Use bullet points where possible.

4. Keep the “above the fold” section limited to the first half of the first page. The reader should be able to see the beginning of the experience section without having to turn the page.

Experience / Job History / Chronological Portion

A combination resume is recommended because it provides the important points in the most important section of the resume (“above the fold”) as well as the career history with key accomplishments that most recruiters and hiring managers like to see.

1. If you have worked several positions for the same company, be sure the formatting clearly indicates it. The start and end date at the company should be placed on the line with the company name and the position start and end date can be placed on the line with the position.

2. Under each position, in paragraph format, use no more than 5 lines to provide the job description. This description should define the duties of anyone who serves in that position.

3. Beneath each position use bullets to list the accomplishments you had in the position; i.e. what you brought to the job. a. Quantify your accomplishments as much as possible; ex. Saved the company 120Kb. Sort your accomplishments in priority order. This is important for two reasons 1) in case the reader stops reading them, they have read the most important accomplishments first 2) when you go to trim your resume to make room for your new accomplishments, you can trim from the bottom.

4. When listing accomplishments, put the results first. We have been told to put power verbs up front and to be consistent with tense. We have also been told to answer interview questions in the STAR format: situation / task, actions, and results. In the accomplishment section, put the results first to grab the reader’s attention. Here is an example of an accomplishment statement before and after applying this principle.

Before:Automated system installation process for a saving of $120,000 for a rollout schedule of 120 systems.

After:Saved $120K by automating the system installation process for a rollout of 120 systems

5. Be 100% consistent with formatting. Start at the bottom and read to the top checking everything including the spacing around the dash in your dates, the fonts, commas, capitalizations, etc.

6. Spell out acronyms with the first use. This not only helps the person reviewing your resume but also increases the chances of getting your resume to pass an electronic keyword search.

Other Sections to Consider

Education

There are two schools of thought about putting the date of your graduation on your resume if you are beyond the age of 45.

A friend and fellow job search coach shared with a group that he felt leaving the date of graduation off the resume raises a flag that you are old.

My philosophy is that if I include the date, they not only know I am old, they know exactly how old I am. I recommend leaving it off if age discrimination is a possible concern.

Certificates and Related Training

Only relevant certificates should be included. If these certificates are significant enough to distinguish you as a candidate, you may want to add them to the section “above the fold”.

Publications

If you are a subject matter expert in your field and publish articles in trade magazines or respected web sites, you can list the names of the articles, the publication, and the publication date.

Technical Skills

List your computer skills or other technical skills that you have (ex. equipment you are skilled to work on). As with other special sections, if the information is significant enough to distinguish you as a candidate, you may want to add them to the section “above the fold”.

Languages

If you are fluent in languages other than the native language of the country in which you work, list the language and the level of skill you have in that language (written, verbal, fluent, native, etc.).

Items to Exclude

There are sections on the old resume format that are no longer needed. These should be excluded from the new resume format.

1. References Available Upon Request. Logic: references are now a regular part of the hiring process and are expected and assumed.

2. Hobbies and Interests. Logic: In previous years, this was a standard section on the resume so the hiring manager could see that you have other interests. Today, companies hire you for the work you will do for them. Listing non-relevant outside interests will make the hiring manager wonder if you will be distracted from the work they need you to do.

3. Non relevant certificates, training, etc. You do not want the important facts of your resume to get lost in the noise of the non-relevant text.

4. Jobs from more than 15 years ago. After a certain amount of time, that experience is no longer relevant.

Other Tips

Adding Your Name and Page Number on the second page.When your resume is printed out by the recruiter or hiring manager, the pages may get separated. You should include your name and the page number on the second page. MS Word has a page header feature and with a simple check you can indicate that you want a different header for page one (blank) then you do on subsequent pages.

Insert a page header on the second page with your first and last name and on the right side of the header add the word “Page” and insert the automatic page number (also a feature within Word).

If you are unfamiliar with these features, simply Google “Microsoft Word insert page Header” and you will see tips on how to do this. The menus for the 2007 version of Word are very different than 2003 and earlier so you will want to select the tip that relates to the version of Word you are using.

Relevant Experience / Other ExperienceIf you have experience in the field you are pursuing and experience in other non-relevant fields, you can group the relevant experience together toward the top in a section titled Relevant Experience (instead of Experience). The advantage of this approach is that you help the reader find the relevant portions yet still provide the other information.

List the jobs as you normally would in the experience section (reverse chronological order). Do not be concerned about gaps in your job history. Following the Relevant Experience section, include a section titled Other Experience and list the remaining jobs there. Together they make up your job history. The term Relevant Experience will automatically inform the reader that you have grouped the job history into the two categories.

This is especially useful for job seekers who are changing careers.

Prioritize all listsIn any place on the resume where you list multiple items, be sure the items are listed in priority order, from the most important points to the hiring manager to the least important.

In some resumes, some job seekers listed awards they won before listing the accomplishments where they saved the company money or increased revenue. Most hiring managers consider saving a company money or increasing revenue more important than a personal award.

As stated above, sort any list in priority order. This is important for two reasons 1) in case the reader stops reading them, they have read the most important points first 2) when you go to trim your resume to make room, you can trim from the bottom.

Everyone has an Opinion

In this article the logic behind the recommendations have been included. Everyone has an opinion about resumes.

One person told me that he had his resume written by a firm and then for grins and giggles, he submitted the final copy under another name to the same firm to see what they would say about the format. He heard back that there was a lot of improvements they could make and that he should pay them to do so.

Some resume writers have been writing resumes for years and have not kept up on the newer trends. Before going with a resume writer, ask them to tell you some of the new trends in resumes to see if they are familiar with them. For instance if the resume writer has you add “References Available Upon Request”, walk away.

No matter who you have review your resume, if they make suggestions for changes, ask them the reasoning behind the suggestion; then you can make an informed decision about what changes to implement.

The Resume File NamePeople use all kinds of file names for attaching resumes. In one case a person used a name that was not her own name, the position, nor the word “resume”. It is still a mystery how the person came up with the name.

1. The name should include your name and preferably the position you seek. Do not just name the file Resume.doc because it makes it harder for the recipient to file and locate your resume.

2. Minimize using any other items in your file name such as the date or version. Store old resumes in another folder on your PC or rename them instead of renaming your current version. Dates or version numbers may send a wrong, unintended message to the recipient (Joe Doe Resume version 99.doc).

COVER LETTER

Have you applied on-line or e-mailed a resume without a cover letter? Or do you write a wordy letter flowing with prose? If you answered yes to either of those, you are missing out on the most powerful cover letter that will get your resume sorted to the top.

To read the previously published article: The Most Powerful Cover Letter, go to:

Step 2 is Aptitude: knowing what you offer a future employer and what makes you better than your competition.

Take the time to inventory (discover and document) your abilities, accomplishments, strengths, values, interests, education, personality, and technical skills. This information will be used to strengthen your resume and to add power to your interview answers. A side benefit is that it reminds YOU how valuable you are.

If and only if you have completed Steps 1, 2, and 3 are you ready to create or update your marketing materials. If you have not completed the previous steps, updating your marketing materials and launching your search at this point will sabotage your job search efforts. If you have been in a job search and it has not been going well, revisit the first three steps and then revise your marketing materials.

Complete List of Marketing Materials

The resume is not the only piece of marketing material. In fact there are other pieces of marketing collateral that are just as important as the resume. It is important to have these and use them as they are intended. Let’s look at the entire list and then we will cover each one in detail.

Have you looked at the face of family and friends as you hand them your resume and ask for their help getting that next job? It is probably a mixture of confusion and bewilderment as they think, “What am I suppose to do with this?” Your resume says what you have done, not what you are looking for, at least not in the level of detail your network needs in order to help you.

Other job seekers just tell their network contacts what they are looking for expecting their friends to remember it all with everything else they have going in their own lives.

Instead you want to give your contacts the key words to listen for, the target companies you’d love to network into, and the various titles of the position you are looking for.

To know more about this one page document, the marketing plan, that will help your network contacts help you, go to this link:

The most acceptable form for sharing contact information at events is the business card. The same is true at networking events when you are in a job search.

Office supply stores sell paper stock so you can print your own cards. A few words of caution: 1) do not use the stock that will leave a rough perforated edge. 2) Be very careful when printing that the card stock doesn’t feed through at a slight angle causing it to print askew. 3) Do not print and use a card that is too plain (ex. Lacking color). This is your marketing material; do not settle for anything less than professional looking cards.

There are on-line sites such as VistaPrint.com where you can choose from a select set of designs and get 250 cards for free (other than the price of shipping and handling which is between $5.45 and $25.19 depending on how fast you want your order).

Have a supply of your cards with you at all times.

At networking events, you want to have your business cards readily available to hand out. If you are right handed, put your business cards loose in your right hand pocket (not in a card case from which you have to pull them out of each time you need to get one). As you receive business cards from other people, put them in your left hand pocket. Do not mix the cards; you don’t want to waste valuable time routing through all of the cards to find one of yours to hand out. [Note: if you are left handed you can reverse these directions]. Jot a reminder on the back of the other person’s card with information on what you need to contact that person about.

Once you have a quiet moment, write on the back of all of the cards you received, the name of the event you met them at.

When you get home, follow-up on the promises you made (ex. the information you offered to send) and reach out and develop the contacts you made.

You can scan the cards or hand enter the information into Outlook or Excel , both of which provides easier look up and access to the information or you can keep a rolodex of the cards. A great little scanner that automatically feeds the information to Outlook is named NeatWorks. If you receive a lot of business cards through networking or through your line of work, this scanner is a time saver.

Designs: Choose a design that is professional and representative of your industry. A person in IT should not select butterflies. A graphic artist should not select a design that is too plain. If you are willing to pay for your cards (still a reasonable price), you can select from the other designs available.

Text: Of course you want to include on the card the primary contact information: 1) name, 2) phone number. On your marketing material, it is suggested you have the one primary phone number where you can be reached, which is usually the cell phone number 3) e-mail address. Your e-mail address should be professional and should include your name; it should not include a sports team’s name as the receiving party may be for the opponent team, it should not include the names of other family members, and it should not be “cute” (an e-mail address containing the cat’s name, Foxie, could send the wrong message). 4) You want to have the title of the job you are pursuing. 5) You can use the brand statement you created to differentiate yourself and you may also want to list a few other statements that help you stand out.

Have someone else review the text (spelling, grammar, the wording, etc.) before you print the cards.

Optional text: Mailing address: On business cards companies include the mailing address. Job seekers fall into two camps: those who do not want their mailing address on the card and those who, like businesses, include them. I fall into the latter group and have never had an issue.

Linked In address: All job seekers should have a professional profile on Linked In. If your name is a common name, where more than one person has the same name, you may want to add the Linked In address so people can easily access the right profile.

Fax number: Although people still fax documents, it is not as common. You can save this space for other information and people can contact you to get that number if they need to fax something to you.

Web address: If you maintain a web site to illustrate your skills, the card should include the site’s web address.

What not to do:
Do not use all of the white space on your card. Doing so makes it hard to read and makes it hard for the other person to find a place to jot essential notes.

Do not put a miniature of your resume on the card. The purpose of the card is not to serve as the only form of contact.

Do not use a font size that is too small or a font type where the person cannot easily differentiate between characters such as one (1) and lower case L (l) and the letter O (o) and the number zero (0).

Do not use your former company’s business cards.

Do not mark out information on your card and write in corrected information.

Do not hand out your cards to any and every one walking by, as if you were handling out a flyer to an upcoming event. Cards should only be exchanged once a conversation has taken place and the parties agree to meet up or e-mail later.

Next week we will detail other elements of your marketing materials.

Copyright: The 6 Steps of a Job Search are copyrighted by Crossroads Career Services.

Other Tips

In this competitive market, every little trick helps. RightChangesJobSearchCoach.blogspot.com will give a tip for job seekers each week.
Name Badge
Use an experienced salesperson’s tip. Wear your name tag on the right so your name is in the line of sight of the people you shake hands with, making it easier for them to remember your name.

Body LanguageExcuse me - What did your body language say again? Over 80% of communication is non verbal. It is essential for you to know how to read your contact’s and interviewer’s body language so you can judge the effect of what you are saying verbally. It is also essential for you to control your own body language. The following are some brief tips.

1) Leaning forward shows interest.
2) Eye contact establishes trust with the other person.
3) Do not cross anything (arms, legs, etc.). Crossing indicates you are closed to or guarding against the person or what is being said.
4) Keep your hands within sight to show you are not hiding anything. Did you know that shaking hands started as a way to show you are not carrying a weapon?

Read more on body language and see if you may be saying one thing and your body another. The library, the web, and discount bookstores have a lot on this topic.

Do Something for Yourself

You are looking for a job so money is tight or you are budgeting more closely than ever before. This tip may seem counterintuitive but it is worth every penny. The tip: Do something for yourself that would make you proud! Whether it is to lose weight, take classes, splurge on a new interview suit or jacket, get a new hair cut or color the grey, or get new more contemporary glasses, just do it! Your self confidence level will increase. You may even meet a great networking connection that way.

This does not need to cost a lot. There are less expensive, money saving options too.

Classes: The state has programs that will cover the cost of training. Some colleges let people audit classes for free and there are links for free on-line courses. Libraries and other organizations offer seminars. During an interview, when you are asked what you have been doing since you were laid off, they will see that you have continued to develop yourself and expand your interests.

Instead of the gym: If you want to lose weight but cannot afford a gym membership, then walk the mall 1 hour non-stop several times a week. You don’t have to be an early riser either; you can find mall walkers at all hours. Check with your favorite malls. In some malls, the anchor stores close later than the other stores, so you can walk the mall without the crowds.

Eyeglasses: Several eye glass stores have "two for one" specials. Go in halves with someone on the cost.

New Interview Suit or jacket: Now is the time to shop. The stores are already marking down clothes for the new season. Watch the paper for additional discounts and coupons. Go on the web and see if the store has on-line coupons available there. You would be amazed at the savings.

You don't need to spend a lot but do something just for you that you are proud of and enjoy it!

Read Who Moved My Chesse and the Prayer of JabezCheese and Jabez: Change is hard and being on the job market is one of the most stressful changes in a person’s life. RightChanges asks every client to (re)read Who Moved My Cheese. It can be read in less than one hour and has a great message on accepting change.

Another recommended book is the Prayer of Jabez. It is based on a single verse in the Bible and reminds us that God has a storehouse of blessings for us; we just have to ask. Check these out at your local library.